Race: A Very Short History of a Very Bad Idea
(originally: Race: Born with the USA)
If you check The Oxford English Dictionary to learn when people were first described as races based on appearance instead of culture, the answer may surprise you. The oldest example is from 1774. Oliver Goldsmith wrote in his History of the Earth and Animated Nature, “The second great variety in the human species seems to be that of the Tartar race.” Goldsmith knew his readers would not be familiar with the new meaning of race, so he explained, “To this race of men we must also refer the Chinese and the Japanese, however different they seem in their manners and ceremonies. It is the form of the body that we are now principally considering.”
“Race” comes from the Italian razza. In English before the 18th Century, race simply meant a group of related things — the race of women, the German race, the race of heroes, the race of tart wines, etc. Skin color, hair color, and facial features were only hints about someone’s tribal allegiance. What mattered most was your culture, which was revealed in your speech. In the story of the Tower of Babel, God divided people by creating different languages, not races. The Greek word for outsider is barbarian, a person whose strange language made them sound like they were babbling “bar bar”. In Galatians, Paul never mentions race when he declares…
